Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 19, PHY-PRO

P L A— P L A
of that renowned Venetian printer. He was now in a
position to spare no expense in printing his books with all
the care he deemed necessary; and his editions of the
Bible in Hebrew, Latin, and Dutch, his Corpus Juris,
Latin and Greek classics, and many other works produced
at this period are renowned for their beautiful execution
and accuracy. A much greater enterprise was planned by
him in those years—the publication of a Biblia Polyglotta,
which should fix the original text of Old and New
Testaments on a scientific basis. In spite of clerical
opposition he was supported by Philip II. king of Spain,
who sent him the learned Benedictus Arias Montanus to
take the leading part in the work of editorship. With his
zealous help the work was finished in five years (1569-73,
8 vols. fol.). Plantin earned much renown by it, but
little profit, or rather less than none; but in compensation
he received the privilege of printing all liturgical books
for the states of King Philip, and the office of “prototypo-
graphus regius,” which carried with it the oversight over
all printers in the Netherlands, a charge of which Plantin
seems to have acquitted himself indifferently. This need
not surprise us, when we know that Plantin, though out¬
wardly a faithful son of the church, was till his death the
partisan of a mystical sect of heretics; and it is now proved
that many of their books published without the name of a
printer came from his presses together with the missals,
breviaries, &c., for the Koman Catholic Church.
Besides the polyglott Bible, Plantin published in those
years many other works of note, such as editions of
St Augustine and St Jerome, the botanical works of
Dodonmus, Clusius, and Lobelius, the description of the
Netherlands by Guicciardini, &c. In 1575 his printing-
office reckoned more than twenty presses and seventy-three
workmen, besides a similar number that worked for the
office at home. But soon there came bad times for
Antwerp. In November 1576 the town was plundered
and in part burnt by the Spaniards, and Plantin had to
pay an exorbitant ransom. A great many inhabitants
of the once flourishing city emigrated, and Plantin also
thought of settling elsewhere. He established a branch
of his office in Paris ; and when in 1583 the states of
Holland sought a typographer for the newly erected
university at Leyden, and invited him to occupy this place,
he left his much reduced business in Antwerp to his sons-
in-law John Moerentorf (Moretus) and Francis van Ravel-
inghen (Raphelengius), and settled at Leyden. But he
could not thrive, it seems, in Holland. When in 1585
Antwerp was taken by the prince of Parma and affairs
became there more settled, he left the office in Leyden to
Raphelengius and returned to Antwerp, excusing himself
for having served the states of the revolted provinces
by the difficulties of his situation. In Antwerp he
laboured till his death on the 1st July 1589. His son-in-
law, John Moretus, and his descendants continued to print
many works of note “ in officina Plantiniana,” but from
the second half of the 17th century the house began to
decline. It continued, however, in the possession of the
Moretus family, which religiously left all the old things
m the office untouched, and when in 1876 the town of
Antwerp acquired the old buildings with all their contents,
for 1,200,000 francs, the authorities were able with little
trouble to create one of the most remarkable museums in
existence (Musbe Plantin, opened 19th August 1877).
See Max Rooses, Ckrislophe Plantin imprimeur Anversois,
ntwerp, 1882; Aug. de Backer and Ch. Ruelens, Annates do
onpnrnerie Plant,inicnne, Brussels, 1865; Degeorge, La maison
Plantin, 2d ed., Brussels, 1878. (P. A. T.)
PLANTING. See Arboriculture.
PLASENCIA, a city of Spain and an episcopal see, in
ie north of the province of Caceres (Estremadura), is
177
pleasantly situated on the right bank of the Xerte or
Jerte, a sub-tributary of the Tagus, and at the foot of the
sierras of Bejar and Vera, continuations of the Guadarrama
range. Industrially and commercially insignificant, the
place has some interest for the artist and ecclesiologist on
account of its fine walls, built in 1197 by Alphonso VIII.
of Castile, and of its cathedral, begun in 1498, which is a
favourable specimen of the ornate Gothic of its period,
and also shows good examples of the workmanship of
Berruguete, Aleman, and other artists. The population
of the ayuntamiento was 7090 in 1877. The Hieronymite >
convent of Yuste, the scene of the last years of the
emperor Cha'rles V., lies about 24 miles to the westward,
and is most conveniently reached from Plasencia.
PLASTER OF PARIS. See Gypsum.
PLATA, LA. See Argentine Republic.
PLATA, RIO DE LA. See Plate River, p. 18-7.
PLATvEA, or Plat^eje, a celebrated city of ancient
Greece, lay at the foot of the northern slope of Mount
Cithaeron in Boeotia, about 6J miles by road south of
Thebes, or a little over 5 geographical miles in a direct line.
Its territory was separated from that of Thebes by the
river Asopus. The Thebans claimed to have founded
Plataea, but, however this may have been, Plataea wras
always at feud with its more powerful neighbour. In 519
b.c. the Plataeans, being hard pressed by Thebes, applied
for help to the Spartan king Cleomenes, who advised them
to place themselves under the protection of Athens. They
did so, and Athens and Platma were thenceforward fast
friends. It was perhaps on this occasion that the
Plataeans were granted that restricted citizenship of Athens
which we know that they enjoyed at a later time. When
Athens faced the Persians alone at Marathon, the Plataeans
to a man marched out to their help and shared in the
victory (490 b.c.). From that day the names of Athens
and Plataea were always associated in solemn prayers at
Athens. Though dwellers in an inland town, and therefore
ignorant of seamanship, the Plataeans helped to man the
Athenian ships at the sea fight with the Persians off
Artemisium (480). In revenge the Persians burned
Plataea. The great battle of Plataea, which finally secured
the freedom of Greece against the Persians, was fought on
the uneven and broken ground to the east and north of
the town (September 479). After the battle the Greeks
declared the city and territory of Plataea to be independent
and inviolable. The Plataeans undertook to bring annual
offerings of food and raiment to the graves of those who
had fallen in the battle; and a festival of liberation
(Eleutheria) was celebrated every fifth year. These offer¬
ings continued to be brought, and the festival to be held,
as late as the 2d century of our era. With the spoils of the
Persian wars the Plataeans raised a temple of Athene the
Warlike.1 The Peloponnesian War began with an attempt
of the Thebans to seize Plataea (431 b.c.). The attempt
failed, but in 427, after a siege of about two years, the city
was taken by the Peloponnesians and the garrison put to
the sword. The bulk of the population had previously
taken refuge in Athens. A year afterwards the Thebans
razed the city to the ground, and built a large hospice
close to the old temple of Hera, to whom they erected a
new temple 100 feet long. In 421 the surviving Plataeans
received from the Athenians the town of Scione in
Macedonia as a residence, but they had no doubt to quit
it at the end of the war (404). When the peace of
Antalcidas wras concluded between Greece and Persia
(387) Plataea was restored, but a few years afterwards it
was surprised and destroyed, except the temples, by the
Thebans (about 373). The Plataeans were again received
1 It was built, according to Plutarch (Arist. 20), after the battle of
Plataea; according to Pausanias (ix. 4, 1), after the battle of Marathon.
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